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Balloon Boy Incident Just A Hoax

"It has been determined that this is a hoax, that it was a publicity stunt and we believe we have evidence at this point to indicate that this was a publicity stunt in hopes to better market themselves for a reality show," Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden told reporters at a press conference.

So the Balloon Boy incident was just a big hoax .....

It boggles the mind that Richard and Mayumi Heene could conceive such an outrageous plan.

They manipulated their children, endangered the lives of the rescue workers, wasted tens of thousands of dollars in rescue resources and even destroyed a wheat field when rescuers trampled through it to reach the helium balloon.

Based on the media reports this morning it sounds like the penalties for orchestrating such a hoax will be minimal. Is this right?

Who will pay for the wasted expenses of the search? Who will pay for the counseling that the Heene kids will inevitably need? Do the parents even deserve to keep their children?

Posted by Stewart Penn - Los Angeles Condo Specialist on 10/18/2009 02:24 PM

Comments (9)

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9 Comments on Balloon Boy Incident Just A Hoax

OCT

And to top that all off, he looked REALLY silly! What a goofus.

Our society grants celebrity status to nutjobs like this - remember octomom? People will do anything to get their 15 minutes and as long as we (society) continue looking in their direction, they will continue their stupidity. What we need to do is strongly protest, push public officials for prosecution of such crimes, and boycot stations and advertisers who support giving life to the hairbrained ideas the nutjobs cook up. (IMHO)

I think if they were made to pay the cost of te people that tracked this ballon and the ems it would stop others from being so stupid

The penalties will most likely be less than what they get paid for interviews with the tabloids. If the courts don't stop the income in addition to the penalty they may still profit. The bad part is that even though we can't believe someone would do this, we still watch it and drive up the ratings for the networks. It even prompts us to comment on AR!

Hi Stewart. While I do not believe what the media claims ("if it bleeds... it leads")... I think that there is a nugget of truth in the report in that his parents did put his life in danger. It's very troubling. ~ Lana

Let's make sure that this family pays for all of the costs of this hoax paid out of taxpayer's pockets.

Maybe that will make them think before they do something like this again. Unbelievable.

This is really sad. To think that they didn't think anything of wasting countless resources and man hours is just frightening. The psychologist in me cannot help but feel concerned for these boys. What kinds of examples are these parents setting for these kids? What kinds of adults will they become?

OCT

Stewart,

It was a but case job and CNN exacerbated it by running it non-stop for a week.

OCT

What a sad commentary on our overall society: both the incident and the coverage.

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